The Irish Grassland Association (IGA) is hosting a two-day Dairy Extravaganza in the northeast of the country this July.
This year’s IGA dairy event will be taking place in Kells, Co. Meath, over two days on July 17 and 18.
The two-day event will see three farm visits along with a social event in Kells on the night of July 17.
IGA Dairy
The first day of the Dairy Extravaganza is sponsored by Yara and will incorporate a farm visit to the farm of Mark Cassidy in Kells, followed by a social Steak BBQ Night with music in the Headfort Arms Hotel.
Commenting on the first day, Philip Cosgrave, Yara said: “We are delighted to be associated with this event organised by the IGA.
‘”We are looking forward to an excellent farm visit to Mark Cassidy and a very enjoyable social gathering with members that evening.”
The following morning, the IGA will host the Dairy Summer Tour which is sponsored by AIB.
Rockfield House in Kells will welcome over 400 people with breakfast rolls and tea on arrival, before departing by bus to visit two farms across the border in Co. Cavan.
The day will be hosted by two farmers in the Cavan area: Owen Brodie, a short drive away in Virginia and David Brady, Stradone.
Farms in this area can face a specific set of challenges, from farm fragmentation to dealing with high rainfall and difficult soils.
The day will focus on how our two hosts have adapted to their circumstances and we will be guided through the development of their family farm businesses, highlighting key milestones and what success means for them.
Commenting at the launch of this year’s Summer Tour, Barry Hyland, AIB Agri Advisor said: “AIB is delighted to continue our long association with the IGA Dairy Summer tour.
“As always, the IGA has identified two excellent host farmers for this year’s event.
“Farming in this area can be more challenging than in other parts of the country, and as such, the focus on grass and cows is even more important.
“I am looking forward to hearing both the Brady and Brodie stories and how they have developed their farms over the years to overcome some of these challenges.”
Mark Cassidy
Mark Cassidy farms in Kells, Co. Meath, and has calved 390 cows in 2023. The farm is 153ha, with a milking platform of 115ha.
Mark returned home to farm full-time in the mid-1990s, at which stage the farm was milking 40 cows and supplying a liquid milk contract.
Image: IGA
The farm has grown considerably in recent years, and it has done so by maximising the use of grazed grass in the diet.
Mark is running a spring-calving crossbred herd, which produced 509kg of milk solids/cow in 2022.
The economic breeding index (EBI) of the herd is €207 and it has a six-week calving rate of 83%.
Heifer calves are contract reared and have been done so by the same farmer for the past six years.
Mark started measuring grass in the mid-2000s, and the farm, although affected by drought last year, grew 12.8t of dry matter (DM)/ha.
David Brady
David Brady is farming in Tierlahood, Stradone, Co. Cavan. He runs dairy and poultry (free-range eggs) businesses.
David returned home to farm with the initial focus on the poultry side of the business. At the time, his parents Brian and Daphne were milking 30 cows.
Image: IGA
Steady growth over the years has developed the dairy business to a milking herd of 110 cows carried on the milking platform of 40ha (2.75 livestock units (LU)/ha). The support block of 30ha carries the replacement stock and silage ground.
The poultry enterprise (two houses and 15,000 hens) is managed in conjunction with David’s brother Kieran, but it is an ‘all hands on deck’ requirement for labour input most days.
David’s wife Rachel and their three children, Eoghan, Daniel and Kate, all give time to the farm.
The EBI of the herd is €212 with €63 from milk and €98 from fertility. The cows produced 541kg of milk solids in 2022 at 4.44% fat and 3.63% protein, with an somatic cell count (SCC) of 94,000 cells/ml.
Fertility performance in 2022 was excellent, with a 363-day calving interval, 82% six-week calving rate with 100% of the heifers calved at 24 months.
Owen Brodie
Owen Brodie is farming with his family at Ryefield, Virginia, Co. Cavan on the shores of Lough Ramor.
Owen finished school in 1985 before attending Ballyhaise Agricultural College where he completed his Green Cert and returned home to farm full-time in 1989 at the age of 21.
Image: IGA
At that stage the farm was milking 30 pedigree Friesian cows supplying a winter milk contract. There was also a cheese production facility on the farm as well as 100 sows.
The Brodies were farming 28ha, 20ha of which could be described as good quality.
In the interim period, additional land has been bought and rented, roadways upgraded, and the parlour upgraded from a six-unit initially to a 12-unit and now a 24-unit.
Today, Owen is farming a total of 77ha, 20ha of which is rented, and has a milking platform of 58ha. He milked 205 cows in 2022.
In the early 1990s, Owen started to measure grass and put a focus on extending the grazing season.
Overall, there were 13.8t of grass DM/ha grown across the whole farm in 2022.
To coincide with the increased focus on grass, Owen quit winter milk production and began spring calving in 1994.
The EBI of the herd is €210 with €46 from milk and €91 fertility. The herd produced 518kg of milk solids in 2022 at 4.7% fat and 3.78% protein.
Fertility performance in 2022 was excellent with a calving interval of 373 days and an 89% six-week calving rate.
Like others in the area, both the Brady and Brodie farms have had to deal with several challenges in developing their farms over the years – high rainfall, fragmentation, and difficult soils to name but a few.
However, they both have developed a farm system to suit their own circumstance built on maximising the use of grazed grass in the diet.